The last fluid head I used was $200 used Miller with a few minor leaks but nevertheless it worked like a champ. None of the balancing tricks the Sachtlers have, but for lightweight cameras those really don't matter that much.

In many ways the sticks are a more important choice than the head.

The "still photography" style sticks with single legs attaching at the top around a small radius have a tendency to windup during pans, and require to you very carefully let the windup dissipate at the end of a pan if you want to use footage in that transition. You are kind of forced to use absolutely minimal drag on the pan. Or to use the old rubber band trick.

Here's an example of sticks designed to resist that tendency. Even this one is a little on the meager side, but I suspect it would windup a lot less. The mid-height spreaders are extra work but give you a lot more stability especially if there's any wind. And the leg height adjustment paradigm is very quick. ENG crews use those kinds of sticks. Have been been thinking about getting one of those for panos.

Those are expensive items. Might be worth a trip to Hollywood or New York or Chicago to check 'em out in person. Take your camera and your longest lens.

I used to have Manfrotto legs and head (703?), which combined cost around 700€. Legs are fine (same style ENG teams use), but the head was not fluid enough for controlled pan starts and stops. After trying out several heads the cheapest one which was able to do smooth pans in practice was a Sachtler costing 1800€ with basic tripod. In the end I mated this head to the Manfrotto legs, and the Manfrotto head with Sachtler sticks (light but flimsy), to be used for B-cam. This Sachtler head/Manfrotto tripod -bastard works fine. Camera is Canon XF305.

Electronics are getting smaller and cheaper and better, but mechanical things are as expansive as before, and good video heads are surprisingly expensive compared to photography heads.

I used to have Manfrotto legs and head (703?), which combined cost around 700€. Legs are fine (same style ENG teams use), but the head was not fluid enough for controlled pan starts and stops. After trying out several heads the cheapest one which was able to do smooth pans in practice was a Sachtler costing 1800€ with basic tripod. In the end I mated this head to the Manfrotto legs, and the Manfrotto head with Sachtler sticks (light but flimsy), to be used for B-cam. This Sachtler head/Manfrotto tripod -bastard works fine. Camera is Canon XF305.

Electronics are getting smaller and cheaper and better, but mechanical things are as expansive as before, and good video heads are surprisingly expensive compared to photography heads.

....The "still photography" style sticks with single legs attaching at the top around a small radius have a tendency to windup during pans, and require to you very carefully let the windup dissipate at the end of a pan if you want to use footage in that transition. You are kind of forced to use absolutely minimal drag on the pan. Or to use the old rubber band trick.